Nambour leads fuel price fall on the coast

NAMBOUR motorists have been laughing all the way to bowser as a weekend petrol price war resulted in fuel selling 20c/litre cheaper than most of the coast.

FILL ‘ER UP: Alan Samels of Nambour is pleased to have scored one of the cheapest fuel prices on the Sunshine Coast for his Harley-Davidson motorcycle at the BP on Currie St, Nambour, where fuel prices are much cheaper than on the rest of the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Iain Curry

NAMBOUR motorists have been laughing all the way to bowser as a weekend petrol price war resulted in fuel selling 20c/litre cheaper than most of the Sunshine Coast.

Outlets throughout the town were selling unleaded petrol for 144.9c/litre while a short drive away in Maroochydore the best on offer was 163.9c/litre.

Nambour's Coles Express appears to have started the discounting a fortnight ago, when it dropped its unleaded to 149.9c/litre.

Not only has its competitors followed suit, they managed to go even lower.

Motorists with shopper dockets were filling their tanks for 140.9c/litre.

It's a big enough saving to make a big difference to a family's weekly budget.

Owners of mid-sized cars such as Toyota Corolla would have saved $12.50 by filling their tank in Nambour on the weekend.

Drivers of large, thirsty four-wheel-drives such as a Toyota LandCruisers would have saved about $32.

When the prices first dropped a fortnight ago, RACQ spokesman Michael Roth told the Daily it was a competitive strategy and he wouldn't be surprised if other outlets tried to match it.

That's been proved true, although the price drop is so far restricted to Nambour.

His RACQ colleague, Joe Fitzgerald, yesterday predicted the joy would be short-lived. "Those prices won't stick around for long; they can go down very slowly and then suddenly jump up again," he said.

But motorists like Alan Samels were just happy to take advantage of BP Connect Nambour's 145.9c/litre.

"As a rule I always fill up at Nambour," he said after topping up the tank of his 1450cc Harley-Davidson.

"This service station and the one opposite (Caltex/Woolworths Nambour) are the two cheapest."

Mr Samels said he was pleased at securing the best fuel price on the Coast, but berated the greed of those involved in determining fuel prices. The price variation between suburbs was ludicrous, he said.

"It seems nobody governs anything anymore."

PETROL PRICES

Matilda Nambour

144.9c/litre

BP Connect Nambour

145.9c/litre

Caltex/Woolworths Nambour

145.9c/litre

Caltex/Woolworths Caloundra

163.9c/litre

Matilda Caloundra 1

163.9c/litre

Caltex/Woolworths Sippy Downs

163.9c/litre

Source: Motormouth

(All prices are before using any relevant discount dockets)

Originally published as Nambour leads fuel price fall on the coast